The Department is pleased to announce that Sofija Korać, a Civil Service Foreign Policy Advisor at the United States Mission to the United Nations (UN), has been named a CAREERS & the disABLED Magazine 2023 Employee of the Year for professional accomplishments, community outreach, and advocacy for persons with disabilities.
Ms. Korać co-leads the disability rights group, which advocates for improving accessibility at UN buildings. Ms. Korać’s sustained advocacy for improving accessibility resulted in the construction of a 24-hour entrance for wheelchair users, an accessible podium in the UN General Assembly Hall, and reforms to make other UN resources and routes through UN headquarters more accessible. These steps towards a disability-inclusive workplace benefit UN employees and thousands of official visitors and tourists visiting the UN each year.
With more than 12 years of experience working on human rights, and gender and global health issues with the Department of State, Ms. Korać currently helps to advance these issues at the U.S. Mission to the UN where she has served as the senior human rights and health negotiator for five years.
Ms. Korać has also been an advocate for disability rights in her personal life, particularly in the field of athletics. She grew up participating in wheelchair basketball, tennis, track and field, and weightlifting and is now an active adaptive rower. She has also taught adaptive rock climbing to children and youth with disabilities.
Ms. Korać received a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree in international human rights law and public international law from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.